All other spells that cost 10 mana should win you the game, (Storm Herd, Time Stretch, Myojins, Eternal Dominion)

:]

I don't think you're actually playing 1vs1s. None of those cards make the cut in duels. They are way too heavy to cast.

So, you'll say me "So, MS shouldn't be a problem". Except that it's the mind's eye of duels: everybody can randomly put it in his (her) deck, in order to have (at least) a colorless time walk. And the ways to counter this are only blue ... So I'll let you imagine what EDH will look like when everybody will play measure and counter-measure (that means MS + monoblue deck).

As a conclusion, with all the artifact hate around in 1vs1, needle isn't a solution. At all.

With regards to your Mindslaver dilemma, counterspell is not the only answer. However, it is just so versatile, and I can't really say much, since I also play counterspells. However, what I have seen done by non-blue decks have been quite different.

During our tournament, we were playing with the current official banned and restricted list. That's right, Tinker was legal, Mindslaver was legal, all that good stuff. However, the idea was, because we were playing with 30 life, aggro now became a viable option. Now, the blue decks were playing Vendilion Clique beatdowns and Looter il-Kors, man-lands, etc. There was a viable "red deck" (Doraemon's list). The key point was, 30 life was the big factor that changed everything. The fastest most consistent kill was certainly Tinker for Darksteel Colossus. However, we learned to get around this by playing cheap bounce (Dead/Gone, Aether Spellbomb, Echoing Truth) or removal cards (Swords to Plowshares). If I remember correctly, only 3 people out of the 8 played Mindslaver, and only 1 person got it out (Arcum Dagsson). However, in testing, the Arcum Dagsson deck lost to the mono red deck, and never managed to get any winning combos out. So, the idea here is that speed is the best answer. Don't be afraid to play cards like Jackal Pups, or Tarmogoyf. Those are awesome in this format. Another way is to buy time with land destruction. Strip Mine and Wasteland are the easiest. But, a friend of mine did build a dedicated land destruction deck with Darigaaz, and it does really well.

In our group, the main idea was to play some form of early aggro beatdown. By beatdown, they didn't even have to be extremely good creatures. They just had to be effective bodies with a tacked on effect. Think Shriekmaw, Trinket Mage, Gaddock Teeg, Flametongue Kavu, etc. These were our beatdown monsters. Then, we throw in some disruption. Usually, this came in the form of our creatures, which means we filled in two categories with one card (awesome). However, there are certain effects that just filled our meta. For example, Aven Mindcensor was an auto-include into every white deck. Effective beatstick, VERY relevant effect. Gaddock Teeg was also used to hose many control decks. However, the most powerful effect was definitely Mind Twist. Mind Twist singlehandedly won games. A resolved Mind Twist for X=3+ means you're done. This is where I introduce Misdirection effects. For the blue decks, Misdirection and Willbender were pretty much staples. However, Shunt and Wild Ricochet are also pretty good ones. However, this all depends on how your meta shapes up. The most common metagame choices are to control decks that stall for big spells, graveyard recursion decks, or control decks with combo.

I'd just like to add that, during this tournament, we did make a special rule. We wanted to test using a 10-card sideboard. It had a nice strategic element to it, and it was quite useful in eliminating dead match-ups. I'd like to suggest someone to try this testing:

My playgroup banned mindslaver a looooooooong time ago, it's just lame as a win condition and 4 mana for a win condition is dumb. If you're not cheating it out there you aren't really playing with mindslaver, now are you(says the vintage player in me)? Too many games ended with activate slaver -> scoop it was just a burden on the local metagame.

Most people in the Toronto area have kind of stopped playing. It's either some mid-size multiplayer game, or a duel game every once in a while.

I beg to differ. Not many people played EDH to begin with. The couple of groups downtown who have been playing since the format was introduced are still playing. Last week when I played with them, red-x (or even mono-red) generals were all over the place. Yes, they are the same people who complained that EDH sucks cuz of combo in multiplayer, and seems like their current decks are the result of frowning upon combo.

Of course, duels and multi are totally different concepts and ask for different sets of cards. Outside of my core group (the one w. cmb in it) everyone's decks are "built for multi". I know of someone who built his deck from commons/uncommons that drafters leave behind. I myself have built a "do nothing" deck (see Decklists forum) and am in the process of making another one. It goes to show that EDH isn't "not-easily accessible", rather, just that people are too focused on high-power cards.

ps. resolving Mindslaver is such a waste of time. I'd rather resolve Thieves' Auction xD

In the group i play we play all cards exept banded ones. we also have each a complete different strategy. cards like mindslaver are broken but sometimes you need it just to stay alive. i play it myself in sliver deck and i can assure that mindslaver is not my win condition. comes in handy from time to time but also takes all the agro of the table to you. ( atleast where i'm playing) so people who say mindslaver has to go i say damnation wog and all the other wipecards need to go to and whats next creatures and sorcery's?

In the group i play we play all cards exept banded ones. we also have each a complete different strategy. cards like mindslaver are broken but sometimes you need it just to stay alive. i play it myself in sliver deck and i can assure that mindslaver is not my win condition. comes in handy from time to time but also takes all the agro of the table to you. ( atleast where i'm playing) so people who say mindslaver has to go i say damnation wog and all the other wipecards need to go to and whats next creatures and sorcery's?

ps we also play 40/21 but with 1 free mul and then normal

Okay.

Lets re-read the name of the forum ...

Quote:

EDH Strategy - Duels and Team play

So, would you, please, go away with all your multiplayer considerations ? Thank you.
I mean, if your post was there to say "wait! mindslaver is balanced in multi", in fact we all already knew that.